Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-20
NEAR NEIGHBORS.
Historic Santa Barbara
County.
LAND OF BEAUTY AND HEALTH.
Joined to Los Angeles and the Rest
of the World by Girdles
of Steel.


county. Breakfast can be taken ii
the city of Los Angeles and MONDAY
meal enjoyed in the ancient town o.
Santa Barbara. The cars have beer
running from Los Angeles to Carpin
terra, twelve miles east of Santa Bar.
bara city, for two months, and already
the pulse of coast railway travel beats
stronger than ever. Baggage cars are
loaded with the effects of travellers
who desire to visit the beautiful lands
Of Santa Barbara county and test
their climatic advantages. Merchants
are seeking trade between the resi-
dents of the rich Carpinteria Valley
and the metropolis of South Califor
mia, and the volume of trade and com
merce is rapidly on the increase be
tween the two localities. 1t is calcu'
lated that the railway will reach the
city of Santa Barbara early next
week. when the amount of trade be-
tween that city and Los Angeles will
be doubled and the passenger trave
quadrupled.
HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
In the old Spanish records is a mar
rative of the voyage Of Juan ROdri-
guez Cabrillo, distinguished navi-
gator who visited Santa Barbara in his
ships San Salvador and Victoria in
June, 1912, three hundred and forty
five years ago. He states in his in
teresting narrative that he remained
several months on the Santa Barbara
islands, San Miguel, Santa Rosa and
Santa Cruz and on the mainland that
is now part of Santa Barbara county.
The climate was so delightful that the
great mariner could be easily pardon
ed for lettering ON the coast so long.
Cabrillo afterwards returned, died and
was buried on San Miguel island. He
also mentions in his history OF the
voyage that the islands were very
thickly populated with men and
women OF fair compilations, and that
there were forty populous villages on
the mainland in the territory now en-
braced in Santa Barbara county.
This was the golden age of Span
ish voyages of discovery succeeding
the career of Christopher Columbus.
Two hundred and eighty-five years
ago Sebastian Vizcaino, with Span
ish fleet, sailed between the islands
and the mainland and named the
channel "Canal de Santa Barbara.
In 1876 the Franciscan Fathers es-
tablished the mission at Santa Bar
bara, and the next year the Mission la
Purissima, and in 1904 that OF Santa
Ynez. These all fourished greatly,
and Santa Barbara city was more pop
ulous than San Francisco for half a
century, while Los Angeles for the
same time was the largest pueblo in
all California.
The gold discoveries then attracted
the adventurous people from that sec
tfon to the northern portion of the
State, and Santa Barbara city and
county made but slow progress until
the completion of the Central and
Unith Pacific railways overland. The
trip to California then became so short
and easy that pleasure and health
seekers came in large numbers to this
coast, and the advantages of the
beautiful city and country became
spread abroad like wildfire and all
that section has steadily and rapidly
increased in population, wealth and
agricultural production, and is now in
creasing more rapidly than at any
other period in its history. The COM
pletion of the railway from Los Ange-
les to the ancient capital OF that coun-
trv will give the city genuine boom
of prosperity.
The county contains !, ,400, 900 acres
of land, of mountain, valley and plain,
with a sea front on the Pacific OF 60
miles. The mountain ranges embrace
the Santa Ynez, San Rafael and some
detached mountains of beautiful and
peculiar forms and features.
The great valleys, Los Alamos,
Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Guadalupe,
Santa Barbara, Lompoc and the small
valleys that belong to the great Santa
Barbara valley formation contain
about $4,000 acres Of land. These
are largely noted for grain growing on
a lare scale and the raising of Lima
beans; but with the advent of the
railway these valleys will be subdi-
yided into small holding and devoted
to fruit growing which is vastly more
nrofitable than wheat and barley grow
mo. The cultivation of the olive seems
to he yeIv profitable in all the portions
of the county where it has been at
tempted, and bids fair to become the
most valuable crop of all that are
there produced.
POPULATION AND WEALTH.
In the year 1870 the population was
7784. In 1887 it is estimated to be
over 10000.
The assessed value of property in
1870 was 81, ,S96,02l. In 1886 it was
$S, S,7OO,039.
The number Of fruit trees growing
in 1886 were: Lemon, 3481; orange,
1854; olive, 1899; apple, 15, ,492 /;
pears, 1880; peach, 400; ounce, All /;
fig, ia; prune, 4119; plum, 2120;
cherry, 26O; apricot, 1921; necta-
rines, 432; walnuts, 10000. Un-
doubtedly the young olive trees not
bearing that were not assessed is
double the number noted by the as
SCISSORS.
The fisheries OF the county are es-
pecially fine and might be made very
profitable. Hunting is good in the
mountains, where bear, deer, noun
tain lion and mountain sheep, both of
which sometimes lie down together,
but the former is always outside OF the
latter; wildcat, coyote and coon
abound, while rabbits and hare
can be found throughout the
valleys and are conceded to
be too numerous to mention.
The business of wool-growing that
used to be SO great in Santa Barbara
is slowing, being changed to grain and
fruit raising.
The scenery in the mountains is
very fine, and with the completion of
the railway across the county the
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